The Last Indigenous Cave Dwellers of Sri Lanka.

The first thing I noticed about him was the fresh blood stain on his shoulder rag. That must be from breakfast, our naturalist mused, not really joking.

Under an ominous grey morning sky, we tried keeping up with him as he scampered through overgrown wilderness, crossed a stream and scrambled up slippery rocks to the top of a hill with a natural cave. This was home, he said in Sinhalese, and revealed his beetle-stained teeth in a wide smile. He was the son of the chief of the Vedda tribe – the last surviving indigenous forest dwellers of Sri Lanka.

Scampering through the wilderness, our Vedda friend.

He casually flipped his black, curly hair and let them fall messily on his shoulders, almost forming a crown for his short, lean figure. He walked barefoot, wearing nothing but a loincloth around his waist and a worn-out axe resting hands-free on his shoulder rag.

And that’s thekitchen, he pointed vaguely to a rock, carelessly crushing betel nut in his palm.

Confused, I turned to our naturalist, who asked me to come closer, and had me stare down a precariously cut hole in the rock. Filled with wild honey, this is how the Veddas preserved meat.

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The wilderness of Gal Oya.

Deep within the forests of Gal Oya, these cave dwellers lived for centuries, hunting wild animals yet living in harmony with nature. Then a few decades ago, the government incentivised the Vedda men and women to move out of their caves to mud houses at the edge of the forest and send their children to adivasi schools. In an attempt to support their traditional ways, the government gave them permission to hunt wild animals like they had always done – but only using traditional bows and arrows!

While some older Veddas continue to live in their cave homes, most younger ones grew up in caves, but now live in mud houses, send their kids to school, speak their own language but also fluent Sinhalese, and have grown to enjoy rice and curry along with honey-cured meat.

What about wild elephants? I asked, for that’s what had compelled us to make the 4 hour journey, on the only local bus and broken roads, from Kandy towards the remote wilderness of Gal Oya National Park, near Sri Lanka’s east coast .

Turns out, the Veddas can feel a wild elephant’s presence for miles, even smell it the wind! In a local paper, I would later read the unbelievable tale of a Sinhalese forest surveyer who had spent months in the 1970s tracking wild elephants with help from the Veddas; they always walked with the wind in their faces so the Veddas could sniff out any elephants approaching them and change direction accordingly.

As we were about to say goodbye, I asked our tribal friend if his people still play their traditional music. He nodded, then casually walked away into the forest.

Later that night, while having dinner at Gal Oya Lodge, an elderly Vedda silently entered with a flute – he had made it that very evening using local wood, on hearing of my curiosity about their folk music. He sat in a corner and played soulful tunes passed down by his forefathers; tunes to create harmony with wild animals. In that moment, I felt a strange sense of sadness about the erosion of man’s connection with nature – indeed, the forest traditions of the Veddas will likely disappear with this generation. But as a city dweller who seeks modern comforts, who am I to judge?

The next day, we hopped on a boat safari on Senanayake Samudraya, Sri Lanka’s largest manmade lake in Gal Oya National Park, where the native wild elephants have taught themselves to swim from island to island in search of food! Much to our amazement, we spotted two wild elephants on a tiny island on the far side of the lake – presumably waiting for the post-rain water level to subside before continuing their island hopping.

We would hear later that Gal Oya Lodge, our luxurious refuge in a private 20-acre forest, besides bringing into the limelight the way of life of the Veddas, has made a brilliant attempt towards the conservation of wild Asian Elephants. The lodge hired some of the park’s most notorious poachers as their staff; not only do they know the forests (and the movement of other poachers) better than anyone else, they also act as the park’s guardians since their living now depends on it.

Back at the lodge, as I took a cooling dip in the dramatic backdrop of an elephant-shaped peak, I was filled with a sense of fascination: what other secrets might the forests of Sri Lanka harbor?

A refreshing dip at Gal Oya Lodge.

Gal Oya National Park, Sri Lanka: Travel Tips

How to get there: The nearest big city is Kandy. Take the local bus from Kandy to Ampara via Bibile to get there. We caught a bus at 11 am, but check the local timetable for updated timings.

Where to stay: Gal Oya Lodge – built with locally sourced natural materials on the principles of responsible travel – is the only lodge in the vicinity of Gal Oya National Park, and we absolutely loved our stay there.

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I quit my full-time job in 2011 with a dream of travelling the world. Two years later, I gave up my home, sold most of my possessions and embraced a nomadic life. I'm passionate about going off the beaten path, solo travel, sustainable travel and veganism. Let's connect!

I quit my full-time job in 2011 with a dream of travelling the world. Two years later, I gave up my home, sold most of my possessions and embraced a nomadic life. I'm passionate about going off the beaten path, solo travel, sustainable travel and veganism. Let's connect!

49 Comments

How incredibly neat that this lodge was able to take poachers and turn them into conservationists. This tells us that poachers are not evil by nature, that they are just trying to survive. If more places can follow suit, we could see serious declines or even the end of poaching. How inspiring. 🙂

I also love your bit about being a city-dweller who also longs for connection with nature. It’s really difficult to reconcile those two parts of ourselves…the part that really wants to be surrounded by greenery and smell the air, and listen to the birds… and the part of us that wants free Wi-Fi everywhere we go!

I remember my evening in the Dhaani(Mud Houses) and the tea made freshly from milking the She Goat in a desert small village near Osian, Rajasthan(2014).I cherish my splendid time stuck serendipitously in Jang village near Tawang at West Kameng, Arunachal(2007). I reconcile my underpreparedness when my boatman asked me to get off the boat stuck in weeds due lack of buoyancy in a oxbow lake of Ganga at Chupi, West Bengal

Wow your travels in sri Lanka sound amazing! I like your writing style! I never knew about there being indigenous forest dwellers in Sri Lanka. Learned something new today 🙂 It is definetly a shame that the traditions of these tribes may not continue in the next generations.

Thanks, glad to hear you enjoyed my writing style 🙂 I had no idea about these forest dwellers either, until I actually made it to their home! It is a shame, but we can’t hold it against them; we all want ‘modern’ comforts and that’s okay I guess.

You are so right in saying who are we to judge. Most of the time i find myself in this dilemma, whether i want to live a wild life living as a part of nature or is it that after sometime my heart will crave to come back among the rustling of the city life i am accustomed to. And it always takes me back to the same old question we used to write essay during school time, ‘science: is it a bless or a curse?’
This place looks so serene and beautiful by the way. 🙂
I have seen so many tribal villages in orissa. And what attracts me most is how humans and nature seems entangled in this small villages. You cant separate them. And the colourful people, in spite of having so little they are always so happy.

I think i am extremely late replying this.. I have a really poor memory you see.. Thought i will do some research and tell you and then.. This happened 😄 anyway.. See i was in a place called Nabarangpur, a district town in south orissa.. Its near to Rayagada, Koraput where the Kondha tribes live.. Also you can visit the Sambalpur or Mayurbhanj district.. But a word of caution you should definitely avoid the Malkangiri area, its a highly naxalite area.. If you go to Nabarangpur or Rayagada and need any info do ping me..

Great post and an intriguing one too!! You shed light on the tribes beautifully:D I think I may bring in a small correction here – it is not beetle, but “betel nut”, also called areca nut and chewing on a mixture of betel leaves and areca nut is an age old ritual in South Asia

Being “somewhat” new to blogging, rebuilding my own site and such, it is refreshing to have found such a blog. I am excited to keep reading more of your posts! This was informative and entertaining and I absolutely love it. It is sad to know how we are slowly losing the beauty of the natural world.

I’m glad you found my blog refreshing; thanks for stopping by! I think we can preserve the beauty of the natural world while still making sure that we are all moving together towards a more comfortable way of life – it’s a fine balance though, but some countries seem to have achieved it.

Dear Shivya, I must admit that you have a way with words. I am in total awe of your writing/ blogging. I can’t decide you travel more beautifully or write or both. I have been a solo traveller not by choice but yes decided to just go for it not waiting for things or people. But it hasn’t been always easy. You are such an inspiration and I am quite glad that your work is reaching places. I am sure you a way to go. Wishing you the best. Love your articles.

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ABOUT ME

Hello! I'm Shivya Nath. In 2011, at age 23, I quit my corporate job with a dream of traveling the globe. 2 years later, I packed up my life into a backpack and decided to hit the road indefinitely. I travel slow, seek offbeat and local experiences, stay in a place for a few weeks or as long as it inspires me, and move on.

I've done a solo land journey from Thailand to India via Myanmar and travelled overland from the Persian Gulf via Iran to Armenia. I've lived with a Mayan community in Guatemala, volunteered at a coral reef restoration project in Cuba, lived in a nunnery in Ladakh (India), and shed my fears and clothes at onsens across Japan. I hope to inspire you to step out of your comfort zone and experience the world!